Results 3,181-3,200 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Other Questions: School Enrolments (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, I recently published the draft general scheme of the education (admission to schools) Bill 2013, as well as draft regulations for discussion ahead of enacting legislation. As these proposals have been published in draft form, they will be subject to a great deal of detailed scrutiny before becoming law. I have referred the draft proposals to the Joint Committee...

Other Questions: School Enrolments (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I welcome the Deputy's comments and I share some of his concerns. Our present system works very well for 80% of the 4,000 schools. In 20% of cases, parents simply cannot get their children into primary or post-primary schools unless they put their names down soon after birth. The Deputy is aware of this problem in his constituency and other urban areas. The proposals were drafted in the...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has established a working group to develop a proposal, for consideration, for a new model for the allocation of teaching supports for children with special educational needs, based on the educational profile of a school. Mr. Eamon Stack, the NCSE chairperson and former chief inspector in my Department, has been appointed to chair this working...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In response to Deputy Kyne, an impression might have been given that a report was due in September. That was not the intention. A progress report to me was due but not a report. It was always understood that the report would be due next spring at the earliest. In response to Deputy McConalogue, it will probably take another full year to implement it - to change the existing allocation...

Other Questions: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I hear what the Deputies are saying and I share their concerns. I will certainly write to what is an independent statutory board. It is the responsibility of the relevant Oireachtas committee to decide whether it would like to invite representatives of the board to come before it. A great deal of work has been done in the context of establishing the RISF. On foot of what the Deputies have...

Other Questions: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have some information for the Deputies. If additional information is required, I will see that it is supplied. The briefing note states that contributions amounting to €70.789 million have been received from congregations and have been deposited in a special investment account opened by the National Treasury Management Agency, NAMA, in accordance with the provisions of the 2012...

Other Questions: Cross-Border Educational Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I welcome the Deputy's comments and I am broadly in agreement with the thrust of them. The peace process must be constantly nurtured, embedded and deepened. Cross-Border student exchange in terms of people from the South going to study and live in the North and vice versa is one of the ways of doing that. Sadly, while the number of applicants from the North to colleges in South has...

Other Questions: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board, RISF, was established in March to oversee the use of the cash contributions of up to €110 million, pledged by the religious congregations, to support the needs of survivors of institutional child abuse. Supports will be available across a range of services, including mental health services, health and personal social services,...

Other Questions: Universities Global Rankings (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: There is a considerable amount of duplication and overlapping within the system. There are 39 institutions, 14 of which are institutes of technology and seven of which are universities. Many of them offer similar courses at a time when different institutes or universities could specialise. My Department is trying to get them to quantify, through the Higher Education Authority, what will be...

Other Questions: Cross-Border Educational Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In late 2012 and early 2013, the Department and the Department of Education in Northern Ireland undertook a joint survey of current and future schooling capacity and need in Border regions, the level of demand from parents and young people for primary and secondary schools across the Border, and how obstacles may be removed. The findings of the survey and any policy implications arising will...

Other Questions: Cross-Border Educational Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I will give two brief replies. First, in respect of the primary and secondary sectors, both the Minister, Mr. John O'Dowd, and I are open to the idea that families on either side of the Border, for whatever reason, should be free to send their child or children not necessarily to a school closest to them but to the school to which they wish to send their child or children. In such a...

Other Questions: Universities Global Rankings (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The performance of Irish higher education institutes, HEIs, varies widely in the different ranking systems. This variance clearly demonstrates that caution should be taken in the interpretation of individual placement of HEIs to determine overall quality. In the latest published Times Higher Education world university rankings, Ireland again has two of its seven universities featuring in...

Other Questions: Universities Global Rankings (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is fair to say to Deputy McConalogue that the rankings are a reality and they must be responded to. International business organisations involved in foreign direct investment take them into account, although the academics maintain they can be gamed and played and that they do not tell the full story. If it was true that funding alone and the reduction of funding was the dominant factor...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I will revert to the Deputies with greater detail and ensure the information is accurate. I reiterate that, since taking office, the Government has ring-fenced the total number of special needs assistants, as Deputy McConalogue correctly noted, and overall monetary allocations in real terms. Demand has continued to increase, however, and while the Government will argue it is not making...

Other Questions: Legislative Programme (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: A number of sections of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act have been commenced. However, in light of the very difficult economic position and significant costs involved, the previous Government deferred the full implementation of the Act. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, had suggested that additional investment over a period of years of up to...

Other Questions: Legislative Programme (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Legal advice provided in my briefing note indicates that partial implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act could give rise to legal difficulties, for example, if the provisions were to be confined to an age cohort or broken up and phased in. I can make the conclusions, rather than the detailed legal advice, available to Deputy O'Brien. The Deputy is...

Other Questions: Legislative Programme (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Department's legal advice is that the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, as currently constituted, may not be implemented on a phased or age cohort basis.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As I stated in my reply, the NCSE received 7,450 applications for SNA support in the 2012-013 school year and 10,397 SNA posts were allocated to schools by the end of 2012-13.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Last year, the number of SNAs, which was capped over the previous two years, was 10,575. The number of posts allocated at the end of the process was just below that ceiling. I do not yet have the final figures for this year because as 20 September is only a couple of weeks ago applications are still being processed. I understand that there is upward pressure demographically because of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: On 25 June, I announced that I would authorise the NCSE to make allocations at the same level for 2013 as before, which is 0.85. Consequently, there has not been a reduction in resource teaching time for pupils with special educational needs over last year's allocation. The NCSE published details of all its initial allocations for resource teaching and SNA support for the 2013-14 school...